Authorities in eastern Cuba are attempting to force the son of two pastors to complete compulsory military service despite his refusal to take up arms on religious grounds.
Officials in Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba, have rejected a request from 23-year-old David Rosabal Cabrera to be exempt from service as a conscientious objector.
In a video message shared with persecution watchdog Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), his father Pastor Ibrahim Rosabal Viamonte said authorities had summoned his son by phone and threatened to carry out an operation against the family if he refuses to report.
“We just received news that they want to take my son to be part of this country’s repressive apparatus,” Pastor Viamonte said. “They threatened to carry out an operation and said that if anything happens in our house, they will come looking for us.”
Pastor Viamonte and his wife, Nercy Cabrera Vasquez, lead the unregistered Jehovah Our Justice Apostolic Ministry Church in Palma Soriano and say they have faced years of harassment and threats from the authorities.
In a second message shared on 6th March, the pastor said the local police chief had come to their home and warned that David could be taken away “whether he wants it or not… at nighttime, at dawn, whatever.”
Changes introduced in Cuba’s constitution following a 2019 referendum made it illegal to invoke conscientious objection if it is considered an attempt to evade the law.
Cuba has signed but not ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The United Nations Human Rights Committee has previously clarified that the right to conscientious objection can be derived from Article 18, which protects freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
CSW’s director of advocacy, Anna Lee Stangl, said the organisation has called on the Cuban authorities to respect David's rights.
“CSW calls on the Cuban authorities to cease their harassment of David Rosabal Cabrera and his family, and to respect his right to conscientious objection,” she said.
She also urged the government to ratify the ICCPR and align its constitution and legal framework with international human rights law.
